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Kae, left, and Heather danced to the music of the Rowan Brothers Sunday.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

summeroflove_135.JPG
Kae, left, and Heather danced to the music of...

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Members of The Charlatans played several songs during their 20 minute set.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

Members of The Charlatans played several songs during their 20...

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A Jimi Hendrix wanna-be had his picture taken with a concert attendee Sunday.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

A Jimi Hendrix wanna-be had his picture taken with a concert...

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Paul Weibezahn and thousands of others let it all out as they listened to the music of the 60s on Sunday.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

Paul Weibezahn and thousands of others let it all out as they...

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A sign backstage, in homage to promoter Chester Helms, pretended to give instructions to music acts Sunday.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

A wonderful assortment of young and old attended the free concert.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

A wonderful assortment of young and old attended the free concert....

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A man named Dave waved a peace sign flag during some of the early performances.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

A man named Dave waved a peace sign flag during some of the early...

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Country Joe McDonald is always a crowd favorite at the 60s gatherings.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

Country Joe McDonald is always a crowd favorite at the 60s...

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Local legend Taj Mahal gave the audience a little blues to go with their rock and roll Sunday.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

Local legend Taj Mahal gave the audience a little blues to go with...

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Members of the rock band Moby Grape reunited for the concert Sunday.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

Members of the rock band Moby Grape reunited for the concert...

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The crowd, which some estimated at over 40,000 fit snugly into Speedway Meadow as the afternoon wore on.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

Photo: Brant Ward

The crowd, which some estimated at over 40,000 fit snugly into...

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Members of the huge crowd responded to a song by Country Joe McDonald...there was also support shown for the tree sitters at UC Berkeley.
A free concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Summer of Love was held at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park sunday. Thousands jammed the meadow to listen to bands of the 60s. {By Brant Ward/San Francisco Chronicle}9/2/07

They're back in Golden Gate Park. Long hair, scruffy beards and possible drug use are all expected during this Labor Day weekend.

But cancel the police sweep. This isn't a homeless encampment. It's just a celebration of the anniversary of the Summer of Love.

Again.

"That's just the way it is in America," says Ben Fong-Torres, the Rolling Stone writer from the '60s and '70s. "We anniversary everything to death. Hopefully this will be the last of it."

If Fong-Torres, who was there, is ready to move on, isn't everyone else? Not hardly. The generations that followed may be sick and tired of the Baby Boomers (frankly, I'm one of them and I'm a little sick and tired of us), but that doesn't mean they can't still draw a crowd.

"I think that may be pushing it," says Berkeley's Country Joe McDonald, who will be among the performers. "But I'll bet we get 20,000. Why not? The weather will be great, it's San Francisco, and it's free."

"If you bring a flower, you get in free," he says. "And if you don't bring a flower, you still get in free."

Righteous.

You have to admit, for students of the time, it is a pretty incredible lineup, a nine-hour extravaganza featuring everyone from the original members of Moby Grape, Country Joe and the Fish, New Riders of the Purple Sage, a rumored appearance by Jefferson Starship and ...

"I will not be singing," says the former San Francisco supervisor and district attorney. "I am going to make a short speech and introduce Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks."

Hallinan is the consummate Summer of Love insider. The lefty lawyer recalls that he was "admitted to the bar two weeks before he attended the Human Be-In." That event, a seminal Jan. 14, 1967, "gathering of the tribes," with appearances by LSD guru Timothy Leary and the Grateful Dead, also took place in Speedway Meadow.

"I remember there was a rugby game taking place," says Hallinan, "and some guy parachuted right down in the middle of it."

Hallinan, and other young attorneys, made their reputation in the months and years that followed, representing the hundreds of marijuana-possession cases that were prosecuted.

"All of a sudden the Summer of Love exploded," Hallinan says. "You could feel it coming."

Ever optimistic, some of today's Summer of Lovers are even hoping for a resurgence of the communal spirit of the '60s. Certainly, McDonald's popular song, "Feel-Like-I-Am-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," a black-comedy protest tune about an unpopular war in a faraway country, sounds as relevant as ever.

"If you think about it," says Hughston, "1967 and 2007 are like mirror images of each other."

"There's this lousy war going on now," Hallinan says, "and there was one then. The early '60s were a pretty rough time (economically), and the early 21st century is that way now."

Of course, the idea that a wave of peace, love and understanding will sweep the nation sounds a little far-fetched. What is more likely, says UC Berkeley psychology Professor Dacher Keltner, is that the interest in the anniversary is Baby Boomers mourning their lost youth.

"The obvious example is that, as people reach the last 20 or 30 years of their life, they get profoundly nostalgic for their 20s," Keltner says.

However, he adds that the idea that today's generation might mount its own cultural shift is not out of the realm of possibility. Based on what he's seeing in his students, Keltner says, they have moved from the "me" generation to the "we" generation.

"I have to say there has been a shift in the undergrads I am seeing here," Keltner says. "They have shifted out of that purely economic interest and are interested in bigger ideas. It's exciting."

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. It is possible, I suppose, that in 40 years people may look back at this concert and say it was the start of a cultural earthquake. But what is more likely is that we will say it was a fond remembrance of times gone by.

There's certainly a market for it. Country Joe says he's just off a 21-city "Hippie Fest" tour, where they played for "Baby Boomers in their tie-dyes mostly."

Still, they got some nice crowds. McDonald says at one stop conservative TV talk show host Bill O'Reilly showed up. McDonald says he dedicated his famous cheer to him. If you haven't seen the movie, "Woodstock," the cheer begins with an "F," ends in a "K" and is not "fire truck."

Ah, those were the days, when chanting the letters to an obscenity seemed cutting edge and risky. Maybe Keltner's right, it's just about the nostalgia.

"The next one will be the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love," says Fong-Torres. "There's going to be one, just watch.

"And you'll have to watch because everyone will be in their 70s and they won't be able to hear."